User Ratings & Reviews

A: Hazy dark brown with reddish hues and an off-white head that leaves some lacings.

S: Caramel, rich fruity notes and some notes of chocolate and toffee. Hints of plastic phenols and alcohol.

T: The taste is quite balanced. Sweet flavors of malts and dark almost vinous fruits. Muted chocolate notes mixes nicely with the fruits. Hints of toffee. The is mildly bitter and decently big with notes of malts and fruits. The alcohol is noticeable.

M: Full-bodied with soft carbonation. Somewhat dry.

D: A decent beer, better than the regular version. But the chocolate is quite muted throughout the experience.

My wife bought this beer for me as an Easter present. It came in an over-sized box, accompanied by a small tin of dark, liquor-filled chocolates (which, apparently, also included Noel as an ingredient).
The beer is a deep, dark brown, with a mostly stable brownish-tan head. The aroma is pleasant...a nice mix of roasted malts, yeast, alcohol, and spice. No real chocolate in the aroma, although there's plenty of melanoidin rich malt character. Belgian-like phenols are also present, although they are not the central theme to the smell. The taste is great! Semi-sweet, with a decent candi-sugar and modified malt flavor. There's also some chocolate here... along with a bit of a slick, oiliness that lingers on the tongue. The beer is not well carbonated, which serves it well. Full mouthfeel. This one hides it's alcohol very well...it's not notable in the smell of taste. Very drinkable. I also have to say that, in combination with the chocolate, the beer went incredibly well. Nice stuff!

The smell: good! Cocoa, chocolate, malt, roasted malt, sweetness. A touch of vanilla.
It is the classic smell of Noël Baladin, already good, with the cocoa.

At the taste the cocoa flavour is again more evident, really good. Roasted malt, and some bitterness from the hop in the back, that fits in very well. Vanilla. Cocoa beans in evidence.

And with the cocoa cream flavoured with beer that comes in the same box with the bottle... Really outstanding.
The cocoa cream is quite bitter, too (probably for the hop of the beer), and the pairing is really good. Spectacular, truly.

In the aftertaste there is a good resolute bitterness, and also roasted, all on the sweetness of the cocoa.
Really, really good.